Criminalisation

All aspects of sex work - including selling, buying, brokering, or facilitating sexual services - are illegal under this model. Sex workers, clients, and third parties (e.g. partners, drivers, landlords) can all be prosecuted. Often results in incarceration, fines, or police harassment.

As seen in: USA (Except Nevada), Russia, many African and Asian countries.

How It Works

All parties criminalised: Selling sex, buying sex, and any form of facilitation (managing, renting premises, advertising) are criminal offences.
Enforcement: Police conduct raids, street sweeps, sting operations, and undercover work to catch workers and clients.
Legal consequences: Arrest records, fines, imprisonment, asset seizure, deportation, loss of custody of children.
Collateral criminalisation: Condoms used as evidence, anti-loitering laws, “manifesting prostitution” charges for walking in certain areas.
No legal protections: Workers cannot report violence without self-incriminating; no access to labor rights or workplace safety standards.

Key Harms of Criminalisation

Violence & Safety

Cannot screen clients openly or take time to assess safety without attracting police attention
Must work in isolated areas to avoid detection, making them vulnerable to attack
Cannot report violence to police without being arrested themselves
Perpetrators know victims won’t report, creating culture of impunity
No access to workplace safety measures, security, or panic buttons

Health & Harm Reduction

Condoms confiscated as evidence of prostitution, discouraging safer sex practices
Cannot access health services without stigma and risk of being reported
Rushed transactions due to fear of arrest prevent negotiation of boundaries and safer sex
Increased risk of HIV and STIs when harm reduction tools are criminalized
No access to occupational health and safety standards

Economic & Social

Criminal records create permanent barriers to other employment, housing, education
Asset seizure and fines push people deeper into poverty
Loss of child custody common after prostitution arrests
Eviction from housing when landlords fear prosecution for “facilitating”
Banking and online payment platforms unusable due to criminal risk

State Violence

Police as primary perpetrators of violence: sexual assault, extortion, theft during “enforcement”
Immigration enforcement weaponised through prostitution charges
Mass incarceration of people engaged in survival economies
Criminalisation used to control and punish marginalized populations
Vice squads operate with minimal oversight

Who This Harms Most

Street-based sex workers: Most visible, most policed, least able to screen clients safely
Migrant sex workers: Face deportation on top of criminal charges; unable to access services without risking immigration consequences
Trans women, particularly Black and Indigenous trans women: Disproportionately targeted by “manifesting” laws and anti-loitering enforcement
People of color: Enforcement concentrated in marginalized neighborhoods; racial profiling endemic
People with prior convictions: Criminal records create barriers to housing, employment, custody - forcing people back into criminalised work
Survivors of trafficking: Arrested and prosecuted rather than supported; detention and deportation common

https://youtu.be/yHjwjO5TPgU?si=lgxEspzAQXVJhEep

How It Works

Key Harms of Criminalisation

Who This Harms Most

Sex Worker Org Statements + Media:

Studies:

News + Journalism:

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